Graham Arader

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W. Graham Arader III a U.S. dealer in old maps, probably the most prominent figure in his field.

By his own account, Arader's career began while he was still a Yale University undergraduate. "There were thirty world-class rare book librarians, historians, curators of collections... I'm the only guy in history who used Yale as a trade school." [Harvey, p.54]

Arader's map dealing business has turned an original capital investment of US$150,000 into a fortune of over $100 million. Miles Harvey credits him with transforming what had been an "insular realm of aficionados" [Harvey, p.55], giving maps "unprecedented visibility, not only as investments... but as mass-media artifacts." [Harvey, p.55-56]

Arader's ethics have, at times been called into question. Early in his career he engaged heavily in bookbreaking, and in 1983 the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America booted him out for what they deemed to be his negligent handling of another dealer's property. [Harvey, p.59]

[edit] External links

Arader Galleries

[edit] References

Miles Harvey, The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime. New York : Random House, 2000. (ISBN 0-375-50151-7, ISBN 0-7679-0826-0)
Hugh Kennedy, Original Color. New York: Nan A. Talese, 1996. (ISBN 0-385-47736-8) A novel by a former employee of Arader's. It is a roman à clef. The "boss from Hell", Nelson Albright, is based on Arader.